Haiti Earthquake Twitter Lists

Haiti experienced a 7.0 earthquake on Tuesday, January 12. On January 13, I began following people on Twitter who were writing about the earthquake. I have now created three lists of Twitter people. Feel free to follow any of these lists. (You will need a Twitter account first. Go to Twitter.com to sign up for an account.)

Here are the three lists (more information about them below):

People tweeting information about Haiti: http://twitter.com/#/list/RIElliott/haiti

People tweeting from Haiti: http://twitter.com/#/list/RIElliott/in-haiti

People tweeting about the logistics of relief and rescue efforts: http://twitter.com/#/list/RIElliott/haiti-logistics

I will continue to update these lists. Feel free to reply to me on Twitter (@RIElliott) to give me any information that will assist me in keeping these lists current or leave me a comment on this blog.


(This photo is of a man named Patrick who was dug out of the rubble of his house after 18 hours. John McHoul posted this photo on his blog site called Heartline Haiti. The address is http://heartlineministries.org/Blog20.aspx John is on the ground helping others. Follow his blog posts for updates on what he is doing.)

My first Twitter list is just for those who are tweeting with information about Haiti and the earthquake. Many of these are not in Haiti. Some are relief organizations tweeting from outside Haiti. Others are those who are searching for relatives in Haiti. (I am following 131 Twitter accounts on this list.)

This Haiti list can be found at http://twitter.com/#/list/RIElliott/haiti

As I followed the people on the above list, I discovered that some of them were either currently in Haiti or on their way to Haiti. Therefore I created a new list which I call "In Haiti". As I get new information, I will revise this list. For me, this is the most important list because these are tweets from people on the ground in Haiti. I think it would be most helpful for these people to use names of buildings and streets to assist others in their rescue and relief efforts. Many of these people are seeking to go out on the streets to help people. We need to keep the internet going (by providing diesel fuel to the internet providers to run their generators). As well, these on-the-ground Twitter people can tweet about buildings where people are trapped and still calling out. There are 47 Twitter people that I am following on this list. Please leave me a comment or send me a message on Twitter if you know of others on the ground in Haiti who I should add to this list.

This In Haiti list can be found at http://twitter.com/#/list/RIElliott/in-haiti

My third Twitter list was created to include those working on the logistics and organization of the relief effort. For example, one person/organization was tweeting about the condition of the roads in various locations. I also include accounts which tweet about the maps which are being created. There are presently 22 Twitter accounts on this list. I will add more as I see tweets which address the logistics of the rescue and relief operation.

This Logistics Haiti list can be found at http://twitter.com/#/list/RIElliott/haiti-logistics

What I am hearing so far is that rescue and relief is not reaching the most desperate. Hopefully on this third day after the earthquake, people will get the water and food they need.

Urgent needs:
1. Water, food and shelter needs met

2. Diesel fuel for the generators of internet providers so they can keep operational

3. GPS locations or addresses for buildings where people are still trapped and calling out.

4. Leadership: Someone or organization to take charge and coordinate relief efforts.

Special call out to the Tech community:

With all the tools at our disposal, how can we help with the communication and coordination needs during this crisis?

Part 2, The Sharing Phase of Inquiry Learning: Who and What?

Image by (nz)dave via Flickr

Who is involved in the sharing phase of inquiry learning?

Both the student(s) sharing the learning and the audience (viewers, listeners) are part of the "who". Students may have worked alone on a project so that the sharing phase is a solitary venture. However, sometimes the individual inquiry projects may be brought together for the sharing phase so that students can begin to synthesize learning. (e.g. Students working on a biography project create a timeline of important events in a life. Teacher then brings small groups of students together to design a presentation which intermingles the people's lives. I did this project with Grade 5 students. The groups shared a movie and two skits which brought their individual biography subjects together.)

The project may have been collaborative from the start. Students may work in pairs or small groups. (One aspect which teachers of the inquiry process may need to spend more time on is building those social skills and collaborative skills if asking students to work together. In the biography project above, some students almost came to blows because they clung to their own ideas and refused to listen to the rest of the group. I had to spend more time on group skills to support their inquiry learning work.)

Recently there has been a push to do inquiry learning within e-collaborations. Kim Cofino of the International School in Bangkok, Thailand has written this blog post (http://mscofino.edublogs.org/2009/10/04/how-to-connect-your-students-globally/) to give teachers support with setting up groups which will collaborate digitally.

The other "who" of sharing is the audience. In the past, students shared the product of their research (generally a research essay) with only the teacher. (Kuhlthau, 2007) With inquiry learning, the goal is to create a community of learners who engage with the learning products together. Students may share their learning with one other student, in a small group of students, to the whole class, or to the whole school. Students may even be invited to go outside of their school to share in a different venue. With online communities, students may be sharing their learning (especially in the form of a blog post, VoiceThread, or video) with a group of strangers that they never meet. Recently, Kim Cofino (teacher mentioned above) had a parents' morning. Parents brought their laptops and Kim taught them how to use an RSS feed (Google Reader) to aggregate all the class and school blogs. Suddenly those blog posts have a wider audience and students will be encouraged to do a better job on them. (Check out Kathy Cassidy's Grade 1 blog site.http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337,%20http://primarypreoccupation.wordpress.com/ She is a teacher in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. People stop by from all around the world to read her students' blog posts. She recently used Skype to do Readers' Theatre with a class from the United States.)

The most common audience for student sharing is a group of people in the same room with the speaker. The student needs to be aware of background knowledge that the audience may possess. I recently attended a Web 2.0 workshop in which the presenter repeatedly checked in with the audience (who were strangers to her) to ask about basic concepts. Then if we already knew about the concept, she moved past it. In my Twitter workshop, I first thought that my audience would be pre-service education students. I thought about what their motivations may be for learning about Twitter. I planned a short get-acquainted activity before the workshop began. However, when no education students signed up, I was not sure who my audience would be. I had four people attend (three were teachers and one an ESL student). I had to revise the focus of my presentation because of my audience. I wasn't well prepared for the ESL student who at one point tweeted: I'm lost. Know your audience! (For some questions to ask to prepare for the audience go to http://virtualinquiry.com/scientist/scientist3audience.htm)

What is involved in the sharing phase of inquiry learning?

According to the book Guided Inquiry (Kuhlthau, 2007), the sharing phase of inquiry learning includes both a product of learning and the action of sharing that learning. The product may have been created in its final form during the creation phase. However, many projects involve the creation of a research essay which can not easily be shared with an audience. Therefore students will need to create something which can be shared with an audience. (e.g. Grade 6 students did research essays on the birds and animals we might see at camp. Then they created posters for the bird or animal they researched. At camp, these posters were on display. Throughout camp, each student gave a short speech about their bird or animal.)

The product may be decided at the beginning of the inquiry process (e.g. Grade 4 Science - amusement park rides) or may arise more naturally throughout the inquiry process. With students who are new to inquiry learning, teachers may tell them what they will share ("we are making powerpoints or posters to share our learning") while with students more experienced in inquiry learning, they may choose their own unique final product.

When students are choosing how to share, Multiple Intelligences thinking could be part of the process. Teachers who are suggesting various products could think of the various Multiple Intelligences when designing the projects. There are some helpful worksheets within the Appendices of Focus on Inquiry (See A, B, D, & E) which could help students understand their preferences in selecting products of learning. Here is a list of possible products of research (not all will be appropriate for sharing with an audience). http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/fiftyways.html Here is a list of digital tools for creating projects http://www.enquiringminds.org.uk/try_it/digital_tools/?cost=0&stage=4&tag_id=0&orderby=ASC&ajax=false&x=37&y=13

Speeches: One of the most common ways of sharing learning is through a speech. The speech may stand-alone or may include visuals, a poster, or a powerpoint slide show. Students who have never given a speech may be very nervous. In my classrooms, I have always had students take turns leading opening exercises. This seems to help them in developing those skills in public speaking. Students should practice making eye contact, speaking clearly, using gestures, and organizing content well.

List of public speaking resources:

5th Grader speech (Excellent--eye contact, enthusiasm, humour, 3 points, gestures) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-eStp4NqBU

Many resources for public speaking http://www.cybraryman.com/publicspeaking.html

Tips from Craig Kielburger (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV-PzZwEd7s

Adorable video of 3 year old Chinese boy public speaking (watch for what he does right: gestures, eye contact, enthusiasm, brevity. Wrong- too dependant on notes. But what can I say, reading and speaking at three.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBd1xIt32kU

Animated training for giving a speech http://www.curriculumbits.com/prodimages/details/english/eng0006.html

Powerpoint: If students choose to use a powerpoint as their means of sharing their learning, there are various considerations. If the powerpoint will be presented along with a speech, the latest guidelines for powerpoints are that they should contain little text and more pictures. (See Joyce Valenza's blog post http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/130020413.html) Powerpoints can be uploaded to Slideshare for other people to view. I think that if the powerpoint is a stand-alone vehicle for sharing, it does need more text on each page. Most students will use it in combination with a speech and then less text will be best.

Videos: Resources for those making videos http://www.thedirectorintheclassroom.com/resources.php

Posters: Ideas for creating poster displays (intended for older students) http://www.ce.umn.edu/~smith/supplements/poster/guide.htmMaking a display board for science fair http://www.super-science-fair-projects.com/elementary-science-fair-projects.html

Debates: Students may use a debate as a way of sharing their learning. (After my grade 6 students had researched and presented on alternative forms of energy, I had them face-off and debate on why their form was better than the other person's form. This type of debate can lead to higher levels of thinking.) Resources for debate: http://www.cybraryman.com/debate.html

I know this section has been long. My goal has been to include some of the resources I have discovered that can be used by teachers and students in creating some of the products that they will share.

For my Twitter workshop, I used a data projector and a handout for each student. I actually had one of my students who was new to Twitter demonstrate step-by-step how to open and use a Twitter account. Her actions were displayed on the screen and I talked about the process as we went along. My presentation was very hands-on and interactive since every student sent two tweets and followed other people and replied to a message. At the end, I talked about the value of Twitter.

The next section is about the When and Where of the sharing phase of inquiry learning. (Click here.)

Building a Network with Twitter (#eci831)

I have been part of Twitter since early in July of this year. I have gradually built a network, one person at a time. On August 6, I wrote a blog post titled "31 Tweets, 6 Followers, Following 24" (http://rielliott.blogspot.com/2009/08/31-tweets-6-followers-following-24.html). If I were to write about the state of my Twitterverse today, the title would be "369 Tweets, 115 Followers, Following 194". In the past six weeks, I have been working on building a Professional Learning Network (PLN) as well as a local community network (for the cit

Image via Wikipedia

y of #Saskatoon, #yxe). Many of the people I follow on Twitter have an either/or network. Is it possible for me to effectively build a network that includes both types of followers?

I remember in August when I followed Alec Couros (courosa on Twitter), I sent him a message asking him for Saskatchewan people to follow. He gave me two names. This is an influential Open Education guru living in Regina, Saskatchewan and teaching at the University of Regina. As of today, Alec has more than 5000 people (the size of a small Saskatchewan city) following him on Twitter. Alec has been so generous with the Twitter community that he has a Professional Learning Network that spans the globe. (I know I'm simplifying the picture somewhat. Alec is also offering an Open Education class, #eci831, which has given many , including myself, the opportunity to hear his voice.) Alec has a Twitter community from around the world. His PLN is enormous.

Here's my point: If I engage with other educators and share resources and ideas on Twitter, what will my local Saskatoon followers think? If I tweet about #CupcakeCornerSk that just opened in Saskatoon, will the members of my Professional Learning Network decide to "unfollow" me because these

Image by CanadaGood via Flickr

tweets are not of interest to them?

My question for other people in Alec Couros' class (and for any of the others who read my blog): How have you been able to build both a local and a professional Twitter community? Is it best to select one or the other as the priority? Is it possible to have my cake and eat it too?

Why I like Twitter

Two months ago I joined Twitter. My first post was inane--Something like: I'm trying to learn

Image by CanadaGood via Flickr

how to use Twitter. I've learned a lot since then. What have I learned and why do I like Twitter?

1. Pass it forward:

I like Twitter because it gives me a super easy way to share resources and ideas. I subscribe to many blogs with Google Reader and come across great ideas and writing all the time. I also follow suggested links in other people's tweets and this leads me to great resources. For example, recently I came across Kathy Cassidy (@kathycassidy on Twitter), a grade one teacher from Moose Jaw. Since she gave her website address as part of her Twitter profile (I like it when people do this), I went to her website. (http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337,%20http://primarypreoccupation.wordpress.com/) This amazing Grade One teacher is having her students blog. Last week on Twitter, she asked for people available to talk to her class on Skype about what they learned in Grade One. She has posted one of those talks on her website. Last year her students recorded their reading using Vocarro. Then other people could comment (parents, aunts, grandpas, etc.) about the reading.

So you get the picture. I come across great resources all the time via Twitter and Google Reader. What is the simplest way to share those resources? It is via Twitter. If someone is on Twitter, I can simply put @ in front of their user name and post the link with a short description of the resource. I admit it is easiest if that person is following me because I could even send the resource via a direct message. I am hoping that most people on Twitter are like me and that they check their Twitter mentions using Search with @ and their user name. Thus if (like Margaret Atwood) you are receiving lots of messages from those people you don't follow, you can still receive those messages.)

Yesterday at church, I spoke with a friend who teaches kindergarten. I told her that I've been coming across lots of kindergarten resources. I asked her to please sign up for Twitter so I have an easy way to pass those resources forward to her. I'm hoping she will do it. (Hi, K. J.)

2. Building a network

I like the people I have found and that I follow on Twitter. They introduce a different world of ideas and link to other people.

Recently during my morning walk, it started raining. I noticed that the raindrops, falling in a puddle, sent little circles outwards from the point of impact. Sometimes the little circles m

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

et and overlapped. Sometimes they did not. I think it is like this with building networks in the digital world. There are so many networks happening as each person discovers those people with similar interests to themselves. Since each of us is unique, each of our networks will be unique.

This morning I came across someone new to blogging who is also on Twitter. His name is Ken Wilson (blog site: http://kenwilsonelt.wordpress.com/ and Twitter: @kenwilsonlondon). He is big in English as a Second Language or Foreign Language circles. I had never heard of him before. When I started reading his blog posts, I was intrigued because I used to teach English as a Second Language when I lived in Hong Kong. So I decided to add Ken to my network of people I listen to on Google Reader and on Twitter.

I'm sure that if someone was interested in crocheting, Nascar racing, and geocaching, they could build a network with nodes which would represent each of these disparate interests.

I am trying to build a network of Twitter people (T-buds) from Saskatoon. With Saskatoon people, I am less demanding regarding who I will follow. Many Saskatoon people tweet about their plans for the evening and not about ideas. They don't often pass along resources. However, I believe there is power in establishing a local network (as Mack Male has done in Edmonton) and so I continue to work on finding and following people who live in Saskatoon.

I am also working on building a network of those who are into social media and using it with students (blogs, Twitter, Animoto, VoiceThread, podcasts, wikis, etc.). I also like to follow people with great ideas who inspire me (danah boyd, Seth Godin, Zen Habits).

One suggestion for you if you want to build your networks on Twitter: Find someone that you really admire and then click on the list of who they are following to find others who are influencing the person you are following. Read the tweets of those people and then you could follow them.

3. Searching on Twitter

I like Twitter for the search capacity it offers. I started to realize the power of search and the use of hashtags (when people establish a common way of referring to an idea or place in Twitter e.g. #yxe for Edmonton) during the Open Education Conference in Vancouver earlier in August (#opened09). Since all sessions in this conference were available in live-streaming video, people from around the world were virtual attendees of this conference. As I searched Twitter using the hashtag #opened09, I could see what others around the world (and even those present in the room with the speaker) were saying about the presentation. It was an amazing experience. I realized later that I was a "vicarious attendee" of the conference because I experienced so much of it through the tweets of those who were attending in a face to face manner.

Image via Wikipedia

I regularly search for tweets with "Saskatoon" in them in order to find people living here. Some of the searches that I use often, I have saved so that I can easily do them repeatedly.

Conclusion

The above are just three of the reasons why I like Twitter. I like to share resources, build a network, and search for ideas and conferences.

One thing I need to figure out though is how to use Tweetdeck or some kind of tweet aggregator. So far, I have been following Twitter by simply reading back through all the tweets that were posted since I last logged on to the computer. This has been fine while I have ha

Image by bwana via Flickr

d a little more time this summer. However, my busy fall schedule is kicking in. I don't want to miss important conversations and resources that are shared on Twitter.

I want to teach other people in my world how to use Twitter. I will be talking with those in the school board office, at my local school, at the university, and at the public library about teaching some classes on Twitter. However, I need to master the use of a tweet aggregator before I can teach others.

If any of my readers have other suggestions for ways to use Twitter or why they like Twitter, please comment below.

You Just Don't Measure Up? Take my Twitter Survey

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Pointless babble? I continue to have issues with the Pearanalytics study of 2000 tweets, over 2 weeks, sampled during the day from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. I have issues with their categories and how things are placed within the categories.

(Model, Iman's, photo fits with the title because as host of Project Runway, she uses those words to say good-bye to ousted contestants.)

I decided to do a totally unscientific analysis of the most recent tweets I have received from the 52 people I am following on Twitter. I'm finding that who I listen to on Twitter translates into what seems important in social media right now. I realize that many of you have way more than 52 people you are following. I suppose you could look at the most recent 50 tweets that have entered your Twitter stream. First of all you would need to look at the Pearanalytics study to understand their system of categories. (http://www.pearanalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Twitter-Study-August-2009.pdf)

I have created a Twitter survey using Google Docs. The survey can be found on this website. (http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfzz97d8_28gmfkm45f) (I'm sure there would have been a better way to create this so I welcome innovation or spreadsheets or some other means of data collection. Tell me what you have created.)

When I did my totally unscientific (no machines involved) study of the most recent tweets from the people I follow (including one dead president--John Quincy Adams @JQAdams_MHS), here are my category results (since I am following 52 people, I pretended it was 50 and multiplied by 2 to arrive at the percentages):

News: 4%

Spam: 0%

Self-promotion: 2% (I follow one local Saskatoon store.)
(Question: Should people saying, "Read my blog post at ___________", fall into self-promotion?)

Image via Wikipedia

Pointless babble: 38% (using Pearanalytics definition. This includes people sharing URLs and promoting own blog posts. If no @ or RT, does not count as conversation or pass-along. I question this.)

Conversation: 38%

Pass-Along Value: 16%

(Since this was unscientific, I've missed 2% somewhere. My percentages add up to 98%.)

When I analyzed the most recent 10 of my own tweets, I discovered 5 pass-along tweets (50%), 3 conversational tweets (30%), and 2 pointless babble tweets (20%). I am not exactly conforming to Angela Maier's suggested 70% pass-along tweets, 20% conversational tweets, and 10% of pointless babble tweets (although she calls it chit-chat about your life). (See http://www.angelamaiers.com/2008/09/my-twitter-enga.html) I believe that Angela would disagree with Pearanalytics categories as well. Under Pearanalytics system, the tweets during which I am sharing website addresses or other people's blogs (but not as a retweet)

Image by ian g via Flickr

would fall into the "pointless babble" category. However with Angela's system, those tweets would be pass-along tweets since you are sharing resources.

Here's what I wonder: If you analyzed your own tweets, what would you find? If you analyzed a sample of the tweets you follow, what would you find?

Could it be, that in order to alter the "noise to signal ratio" you might have to say (in the words of Iman on Project Runway Canada), "You just don't measure up" and cut some people loose? If you and I are reflective about our own "noise to signal ratio", are there other people who will be cutting you or me loose?

Open Education? How does that work? #opened09

One week ago today, I attended an online seminar with George Siemens and Dave Cormier. My professor, Jennifer, had told the class about this seminar. (See my blog post: http://rielliott.blogspot.com/2009/08/george-siemens-and-dave-cormier-free.html) During that seminar I learned about the Open Education Conference taking place in Vancouver. From Wednesday to Friday last week, I was a "vicarious" attendee at the Open Education Conference. (I love to see those ripples spreading outward. Jenn told us about the Monday night seminar; I attended the Monday night seminar; I attended the Open Education Conference; I told others about the conference. The ripples are moving outward, encompassing more and more people)

Water Ripples alicemariedesign. Flickr

I liked the idea of open education but could not see how this would work for universities. Professors need to be paid. Students need to get degrees that are recognized by the world. What would "open education" look like in that setting?

I still don't know but, a professor at the University of Regina may be pointing the way. Dr. Alec Couros is offering a EC&I course (graduate level) titled Social Media & Open Education. Students have registered for his course for credit. Now he is throwing open the course for anyone to join as a non-registered student. Here's what Alec has to say:

"The success of this course in past offerings has been greatly due to the tremendous support and participation from non-registered students. All lectures in this course, from September 15/09 to December 8/09 will be publicly available. To access the lectures, look for the appropriate date under "Synchronous Sessions", then look for the weekly Elluminate link. I will also offer the appropriate Elluminate link via tweet via the Twitter profile, @courosa.

Live lectures will take place every Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. Saskatchewan time. Additionally, all sessions will be recorded and made available in several media formats.

We would also love to learn from you! I invite you to visit the blogs of the registered students (links available soon) and leave comments and feedback. If you happen to come across an article, blog post, video, etc. you think would be valuable to us, please use the Delicious tag 'eci831readings'. And, we'd love if you responded to our weekly sessions in the format of your choosing (e.g., blog post, vlog, podcast, etc.) Just tag your media as 'eci831responses' and students will be able to access these. " (Class information, http://eci831.wikispaces.com/NonRegistered)

In Alec's tweets about the class, he said that he takes care of the registered students in the class and the non-registered students take care of themselves. Alec is paid; students get their degrees; yet it is still "open education" because an unlimited number of non-registered students can join in. Wow! So that's how open education works.

Here's a video of Alec's introduction of himself to the class

Alec's class already has non-registered students from Australia, Chicago, Windsor, and Edmonton. I am seriously considering signing up to be part of this class. Why don't you join me?

"Pointless babble"--40% of Tweets

Image by bwana via Flickr

You may have heard about the recent study revealing that 40% of tweets fall into the "pointless babble" category. I've been planning a snappy comeback to offset this finding. I finally tweeted that snappy comeback today. Here's what I said:

40% tweets mindless babble. Those I follow, don't babble.

I went searching for the study to learn more.((pdf file at http://www.pearanalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Twitter-Study-August-2009.pdf) Pear Analytics conducted the study by randomly taking 200 tweets every half hour of the day (except over lunch) from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. They collected their total of 2000 tweets over a two week period. (They have some interesting charts in the report.)

The 2000 tweets were categorized under six different headings:

• News - Any topic from regular media but not tech media (Mashable or TechCrunch). E.g. via Ann Curry: AP: Former Chief Financial Officer for Bernie Madoff pleads guilty of conspiracy.
• Spam - Want you to look at their pictures or get lots of followers. E.g. 300 twitter followers in a day - http://fff.to/A32
• Self-Promotion - Usually business in nature. Want to sell you something. E.g. We'll hook you up for school with HP Days. This week there is a huge selection of the coolest HP products on sale. http://ow.ly/k0As

  Image via Wikipedia

• Pointless Babble - This is when someone is telling you what they are doing right now. E.g. "Watching Aladdin. Bored" "Feeling blue tonight. Thinking about my wonderful Dad who passed away on May 8th this year. I miss you Dad." (Do you see an issue here? The first could be pointless babble. The second is not. Full disclosure here. The second tweet I wrote because I was sorrowing about my Dad.)

• Conversational - When people are talking to each other using the tweets. Tweets that begin with @ were considered conversational even if they had other hash tags or URLs in them. E.g. GardnerCampbell tweet: @AdrianEden You're most welcome. Thanks for the kind words. AdrianEden tweet: @GardnerCampbell my pleasure. have a good weekend.
  

• Pass-along - If the tweets had an RT in them (retweet). Even if there were other signs, as long as it had an RT in it, it was considered a pass-along. E.g. RT @RIElliott: Vicarious & virtual attendee at #opened09 & #steconf. http://bit.ly/16Wfjc http://www.ustream.tv/recor...

I have heard so many people shout out the news of this study that 40% of tweets are mindless babble. However, when you really look at the study, the findings are suspect. Are they assuming that most people tweet only during the working day? What about on the weekends? How are they defining mindless babble? As long as there is @ or RT in a tweet, it falls into a different category.

Here's a sample tweet: RT @JackieCourteau: RT @yeagerhood: #FollowFriday #MADNESS! @marketbeater @sassy53227 @JackieCourteau @nedrunning @Apriss @ZnaTrainer
(I did not make up this sample tweet. I did remove the name of the person who created it though.)

Now, I'm sorry folks, but I would call that "mindless babble". Pear Analytics would call it either a Pass-Along tweet because of the RT (retweet) or a conversational tweet because of all the @'s in the tweet.

So here's what I've decided. I'm going to take this report with a grain of salt. I'm going to continue to enjoy thoughtful and interesting comments people make about what they are doing (even if Pear Analytics terms them "mindless babble"). I'm not going to feel guilty about my penchant for tweeting and enjoying other people's messages.

One thing I could use help with though. What is it with that sample tweet? What are the origins of #FollowFriday? Does this kind of tweet make sense to you? Could you please help out this newbie to Twitterville? Things might get a little easier, once I understand.

References:

Pear Analytics (August 2009). Twitter Study. Online at http://www.pearanalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Twitter-Study-August-2009.pdf

Vicarious Attendee at #opened09 and #steconf

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Over the past few days, I attended two conferences, #opened09 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and #steconf at Harvard in the United States. The conferences overlapped in real time and were across the country from each other. I participated in both conferences. At the #opened09 conference in Vancouver, I was even invited to sign up as a "virtual attendee". You see, I did all this from the computer in my basement in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Since I couldn't hop a plane and attend either conference in person, I watched and learned from a distance.

The Open Education Conference in Vancouver was easier to participate in. It took place over 3 full days with many sessions each day. (There was a pre-conference event as well.) All sessions were online via live-streaming video. These sessions are now available at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1978748 if you missed them. Check out my earlier blog about more URLs for conference information. Two people who presented at the conference, Dave Cormier and Alan Levine of CogDogBlog fame, returned home and wrote blog posts about the conference. (What's Truly Amazing at CogDogBlog and Open Ed 09 - My Debutant's Ball by Dave Cormier). I watched and listened in on and tweeted about both of these sessions. I read many other people's tweets and read Ann Taylor's notes from many of the sessions as well. As I mentioned before, I was signed up as a virtual attendee of #opened09 (this was the hashtag for this conference on Twitter).

This morning I learned about another conference (see my earlier blog entry) being held at Harvard. This conference was called Social Technology in Education Conference (#steconf). I discovered (via two of those in attendance at the conference) that the conference was free for those in attendance. As I read the schedule and followed the tweets, I realized that everyone was in one large gym (with few plug-ins for all those laptops). All the sessions were about 30 minutes long with no time for question and answer. However, imagine 250 people, in one room, hearing the same information. I believe that there are some SlideShare presentations being made available from this conference. They ran out of time and resources for doing live-streaming video.

From both of these conferences, I learned a lot. Especially with the conference in Vancouver, I almost felt that I was there. Last year I vacationed in Vancouver and stayed in a hotel on Robson Street (this is very close to the conference venue). I drove around Stanley Park which is where the conference had a barbecue one evening. Through Twitter, I followed Alec Couros trip back to Regina. I understood his pain when he had so little room that he couldn't even open his laptop. When I read Dave Cormier's excellent blog post--his reflections on his experience at #opened09 and combined that with his tweet about writing lots on his plane trip back to Prince Edward Island, I imagine that that's when he wrote his blog post. (Hmm! Working on cloud computing stuff while really flying through the clouds.)

Back to the conference in Harvard. I've never been there. However, when many people tweeted the same quote from a speaker, I could imagine the quality of listening in that room. When a young man repeatedly tweeted that he wished he could attend the conference but had no ride, I was hoping someone had picked him up. People tweeted about lunch plans. They shared resources in their tweets.

I have decided that I was not a virtual attendee at these two conferences. I was a vicarious attendee. Because of the power of live streaming video and real-time tweets, I experienced those conferences through the personal sharing of those who were there. I lived the experiences through them.

So you think you can dance, Ruth Elliott?

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Last night I watched the second program of this year's, So You Think You Can Dance, Canada? Some amazing young dancers took the stage to dance their way to the next stage of the competition. The cream was definitely rising to the top.

During the day yesterday, I encountered some other marvelous Canadians who are reaching far beyond our country to make a difference in the world. I had the privilege of being a digital, online participant (a virtual attendee) in the Open Education Conference in Vancouver, B.C. (#opened09) Dave Cormier was a master communicator who engaged his audience (both online and in the room). His talk had substance, depth, and breadth. People were tweeting about it and watching the Live Stream feed of the session. (Dave is from Prince Edward Island in Canada.) In that session, Dave spoke with Alec Couros who was in the audience. Alec is from Regina, Saskatchewan. He created the diagram of the Networked Teacher as part of his doctoral dissertation which was about the Creative Commons. In CogDogBlog's (Alan Levine) session in the afternoon, once again Alec Couros was mentioned and even highlighted in one of the stories of openness that Alan shared. Alec Couros is another Canadian to be proud of. When I think about digital impact and dancer impact emanating from Canada yesterday, it's time to watch the YouTube video of Oh Canada again. (See Dave Cormier Wow blog post.) That's twice yesterday I was bursting my buttons with delight and joy in fellow Canadians' achievements.

I can see that some Canadian dancers and digital pioneers are poised to impress their world. The question is: How can I make a difference in my immediate world with the new web tools that I have learned about in this class? Where will I begin? Who will I begin with first? What will I do?

Early on in learning about all of these Web 2.0 tools, I felt that I was taking part in a dance. Each new tool was a partner in my dance. Some of those partners stepped all over my toes. Some partners were too tall or too short. Some partnerships felt awkward at first. I didn't know where to put my hands or what to say in the conversation. Some partners held me so close that I felt as though I would smother. However, the more often I danced with some of those partners, the more comfortable I became. I anticipated their moves and followed along. I even contributed some swirls and twirls of my own.

(Can you guess which partner matches up with which dance style? For my classmates in this class, you have probably experienced some of the same feelings.)

Just to continue this analogy or metaphor or simile (please help me, you English teachers) a little bit longer: My blog as a dance partner gazes deeply into my eyes and encourages me to be myself. Sometimes I giggle uncontrollably and other times I begin to speak faster and faster as my words torrent out. Sometimes it is a silent dance as I wonder what to say next. I'm waiting for the next words to tumble forth. Then I overhear a conversation from some of the other dancers in the room which sparks a new topic for engaging with my blog partner.

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My Facebook partner (as you may have guessed) is the one that holds me a little too close, too tightly. I feel claustrophobic and just want to get away. However, lots of my family and friends really like Facebook and encourage me to dance with this partner more often. Dancing with Facebook is like a square dance. There are lots of "bow to your partner" and "do-see-do" and "swing your partner". Sometimes I turn in the wrong direction or trip over my feet. I haven't figured out all of the patterns of this dance. Some of the other square dancers are so skilled. Lots of them are wearing fancy square dancing outfits. I just wear my blue jeans or sometimes even my pyjamas. I just can't be bothered to dress up too much for a dance that befuddles me. I creep in to lurk on the sidelines sometimes, just to make sure my family members and friends are still dancing up a storm. Then I rush out the door again.

My Twitter partner was difficult to dance with at first. He was always rushing off to take a quick turn around the floor with someone else. Then he would rush back and try to pick up our dropped conversation. I often forgot what I had been saying. He wasn't very patient. If I talked too long, he would fall asleep (pretty hard to do when you are dancing) or just simply cut me off. I thought this was really rude at first. I wasn't accustomed to having to distill my thoughts (which always ramble on) into short bursts of quality conversations. I far preferred Twitter's brother Blog as a partner. Blog would listen forever as I carried on about my latest bandwagon topic. However, I gradually began to see that Twitter and Blog were alike (at first I couldn't believe that they were brothers). Both of them loved conversations and loved to listen. It's just that Blog listened only to me while Twitter was listening to my conversation and lots of others. Twitter would often repeat (retweet) things that other dance partners had told him. Don't worry, he wasn't revealing any of their confidences. They all knew that Twitter is a blabbermouth. But he's so charming that people can't resist confiding in him. They know he'll tell the next person everything that you have said. Twitter also introduced me to some of his other partners. We sometimes have direct conversations because he helped us to connect with each other. Because Twitter and Blog are brothers, I sometimes share what Twitter has said to me with Blog. Other times I talk about Blog with Twitter. All in all, I really feel comfortable with this brother duo.

Another dance partner that I enjoyed spending time with was Wiki. Wiki actually invited me out to a special dance party. It's called a barn dance. Did you ever read any Louis L'Amou

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r westerns or other stories of the pioneer days in North America? In those stories there were often community dances. Sometimes they took place in barns. Other times the venue was a country school house or a community hall. Everyone in the community harnessed up the horses and jumped into the wagon and trundled off to the dance. Usually the dances took place in the winter time because in a farming community, that is the least busy time of year (no crops being planted or baby animals to care for). No one stayed at home. Everyone, from grandma to the little six-year-old, came to the dance. So Wiki invited me to a barn dance. I wasn't sure what to expect. However, the barn dance was really well organized. They had lots of chairs sitting around the edges. People could sit in those chairs to talk and discuss things. People could request various songs. The band was excellent and could play all styles of music. Sometimes people argued a little over which song to request next. Usually they just decided to play both songs (not at the same time, of course). And the food!! Have you ever been to a fowl supper in a small prairie town? Let me tell you, those people know how to cook. The food was delicious with such a variety. It seemed as though all of the cooks created their best dishes and laid them out on the table for all to enjoy. Some of the cooks were sharing recipes and asking for helpful hints of how to make the best rhubarb pie and how to use up all the zucchini in the garden next year. I think the perogies were my favourite. Wiki told me that they were a community joint endeavor. That day ten people met in one person's kitchen and had a perogie making assembly line. They discussed the recipe ahead of time. Different participants brought different ingredients. Then they cooked up a storm while talking and visiting all the while. I think it was all the energy and love put into those perogies that made them taste so good. All in all, the dancing with Wiki was fun but my favourite part was being welcomed into that close-knit community.

All this dancing has made me tired. Let me sit down to catch my breath. I need to think about all of those partners. And, by the way, did I tell you that because of all I've learned about dancing, I've been asked to teach a dance class? I hardly know what to think. I don't really know a lot about dancing but people are saying, "You know more than we do. Teach us what you've learned. Then we can figure out more steps together." I'm scared. I don't want to hear any cat calls or jeers. What if I trip or fall flat on my face? Oh well, it's no big deal. I just get up, laugh along with my dance class, make a joke about my klutzy ways, and carry on. I never told them I was an expert. (As kolorkid said yesterday in a tweet, "community is a place where you feel safe [to make mistakes] so you can learn".) I'm a few steps ahead of them, that's all. So which dance should I teach them?

Well, all this dancing is making me dizzy and discombobulated. Time to step outside for a breath of fresh air and some icy cold lemonade.

Here's where I shift gears and stop with the dancing analogy. It was fun for me though and helped me t

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o think about some of my reactions and learning curve with many of these Web 2.0 tools. But where do I go from here? I need to pick a tool and select some people to learn about this tool. The tool I have chosen is the Wiki. I have a slight problem with the people I will work with using this tool. During the next school year, I will be a full-time university student. Therefore I do not have a local school or classroom community to work with. I thought about which groups in the community I could connect with using wikis. The wiki I will use is the wiki I created about the Caswell Homes Project. Check out this wiki at http://caswellhomes.wetpaint.com/

Here's a short introduction to the wiki:

Welcome to the Caswell Homes Project. The Caswell neighbourhood is one of the historic areas in the Prairie city of Saskatoon. Caswell Hill began as the farm of Robert Caswell. After Caswell sold land to developers, many homes were built in the area. Mrs. Ruth Elliott's Grade 5 students at Caswell Community School researched the history of 25 of these homes. The homes were built between 1908 and 1929. Homes were either beautiful or very old or had a story to tell.

The research carried out by the students into homeowners, their occupations, and some of the stories of the homes, is just the beginning. Your assistance is needed to add information and create links so that more stories can be told.

Although this project began with 25 homes, other Caswell residents are welcome to add information about their homes as well.

Contact R Elliott for more information about how to assist with this project.

I created this wiki several weeks ago when I was learning about the use of wikis in education. Since that time, I have not had the opportunity to go back and work on this wiki. However, this wiki brings together several of the ideas that I am passionate about. I'm passionate about community, technology, teaching, and history.

1. I love history and especially local history. There are so many untold stories. Often Canadians think that our stories are boring. They aren't. They are delightful and interesting.

For example, Robert Caswell, the farmer who first lived on the land that later became the Caswell Hill neighbourhood, raised cattle on this land. When the Caswell School was first erected in 1910, it w

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as the era of school gardens. Children were taught to plant and nurture gardens at school. Schools even competed for prizes for their school gardens. Well, imagine the furor when Mr. Caswell's cows got into the school garden at the brand-new Caswell School. I'm sure they made short work of the tender lettuce and bean shoots that delighted the students. Shortly thereafter, a fence was built to keep Mr. Caswell's cows out of the school gardens. I love this local history story.

How will we tell these Canadian history stories? Who will tell them? Many of the senior citizens who know the stories best will soon be passing on to their reward. We need to capture those stories for posterity. Then we should put those stories on the internet for the whole world to discover and enjoy. When I first created this Caswell Homes wiki, I invited my mother-in-law (Mom) to type her story about the streetcars of Saskatoon. She did this and later added to her story. I asked my brother-in-law if he remembered the Saskatoon Arena. I added his remembrance to the wiki. (Both streetcars and the Saskatoon Arena are stories arising from one of the Caswell homes.) However, when I asked Mom if other senior citizens in her apartment building would be able to add their stories to the wiki, she said that most of them do not have or use computers. I know that they have stories but would need assistance to give those stories a digital voice.

How could I include these mini-his and her-stories in the Caswell Homes wiki?

2. I love community. I am delighted with my local place in the world. I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a beautiful city with a river running through it and so many bridges spanning the river that Saskatoon has the nickname of "Bridge City". The first foot and vehicle bridge was built in 1907 to join the communities of Nutana, Riversdale, and Saskatoon. These three villages amalgamated in 1906 to create the city of Saskatoon. This bridge is still in use today (102 years later) to join the communities on either side of the river in Saskatoon. I see my wiki as a way to join and celebrate community as well. Could those who are digital natives in our public and high schools help give a digital voice to the stories of those who live on the other side of the digital divide? The senior citizens without computers can use those students who have grown up in a world of mouse clicks and texting as a bridge to move their stories out into the virtual world. Along the way, social media can foster personal and inter-generational connections in the real world.

3. I love technology. I love computers. I especially love creating with computers. (Although I must admit that I play Settlers of Catan at http://games.asobrain.com/ for relaxation.) I have come to realize that I will never know all there is to know about computers and technology. However, what I do know, I will seek to use and pass on to others. During this online class from the University of Alberta, I have learned about many Web 2.0 tools. These now become part of my technology tool kit. I can see that even though I will select the wiki tool from this kit, I can also use photo sharing, video sharing, podcasts, multi media (Voice Thread), Twitter, and even Facebook as part of the wiki.

Recently I visited one of the homeowners of one of the Caswell homes that my students researched. Since my last contact with her, she has unearthed some photographs of Dave King who built her house in 1912 or so. She also has some information about him. Those photographs could be scanned and uploaded to the internet using photo sharing. She could make a podcast to talk about what she knows about him. His photo could even be uploaded

Image via Wikipedia

with Voice Thread so that others in the community could talk about him. I have already had contact with another lady who says that her parents' home, just down the street, was also built by Dave King. That homeowner has a very beautiful house but it needs a paint job. When I first met her, she and her husband told me that they would like to paint the house with Painted Lady colours. I had never heard of Painted Lady houses before. They explained to me that in the early years along the eastern sea coast of the United States, houses were painted with several different colours. They showed me a book of Painted Ladies. Their house would look great painted in these colours. At that time, they asked me if my students could colour some pictures of their house using different combinations of colours to help them decide which colours to use. (At first, I was hoping to have my students sketch each house but we did not do this.) Maybe on the wiki, we could have an artist create a drawing of the house. Then we could have a contest in which children could colour the house. (O.K. I know I'm getting carried away again. There are so many possibilities for creating community using technology.)

4. I love teaching. A few years ago, I was visiting my cousin Wally Stinson. He had a laptop that he was learning to use. Wally was a wonderful man (he has since passed away). He was a teacher who was really involved in the sports community. A few times when I went to visit Wally and his wife Elinor, I gave him some tips about using his computer. His children and grandchildren had also given him some pointers. However, he told me repeatedly that I was the best computer teacher he had ever had. Coming from a master teacher like Wally, that was a high compliment.

So where will I find these lovely people that I am going to teach to use a wiki? I don't have a school this year. I guess I'll have to go out into the highways and the byways and compel them to come in. History + Community + Technology + Teaching. Let me think.

I guess I can't force/compel anyone to join me. However I can invite and entice them. I know that senior citizens have many untold stories that will go to their graves with them if they aren't preserved for posterity. I will invite them to tell their stories. I need to make the technology part of it really simple for them. I know

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there are many senior citizens who are volunteers at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon. (My mother-in-law is one of them.) Maybe I will contact the Education Coordinator there to see what we can dream up. (Picture shows interior of a streetcar at the Western Development Museum) Perhaps they would be willing to get the word out to the volunteers. Then I could meet them at the Western Development Museum and make podcasts of some of their stories. However, I want to teach them to use the technology as well. The Saskatoon Public Library has computers for the public to use. They also offer classes for seniors and other adult computer users. I will contact them to partner with them. Maybe I can teach a class for them and invite senior citizens to share their stories. Then I can teach them how to go on the internet to look for their stories. The Saskatoon Public Library also has a Local History Room. I'm going to see whether they would like to be involved. After all, they are in the business of preserving hyperlocal history stories. I have contacts there because my students used their resources to unearth the history of each of the Caswell Homes.

Who else could be part of this wiki community? I know the Saskatoon City Archives manager. I will talk to him. As well, there is the Saskatoon Heritage Committee. They publish a magazine four times a year. Maybe they would like a digital way to tell their stories. I know several people on that committee. I will call them.

This year I will be a student at the University of Saskatchewan. There are several avenues I could run down seeking assistance. Yesterday Alec Couros put me in touch with another Twitter user in Saskatoon, Richard Schwier of the University of Saskatchewan. He works in the educational technology area in the College of Education. I will talk with him about this project. He may have some ways of recruiting student help. I could also offer free classes to education students--perhaps about podcasts or contributing to a wiki. They could help the senior citizens record their stories. (Just a little aside, after the Caswell Homes Project, many of my students and their families grew very interested in Saskatoon history. A side benefit of helping to tell other people's stories is that you begin to value those stories as your own.)

What about the Saskatoon Public School Division, my employer? We have an online learning center. I will get in touch with the leader there. She will have some ideas for me about how to involve our public school students in this project. I think we will receive some media

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attention if all goes as planned. School divisions like that. I'm sure there are elementary and high school teachers who are looking for a project to latch on to. I could volunteer to do some team teaching with the classroom teachers. We have a computer lab downtown in the school board office that could be used if need be. Our high schools have been going through a restructuring and re-envisioning process. I know the man in charge. I will contact him to see where this project may fit in. Actually, while I think about it, why not include the Saskatoon Separate School Divison as well? (The Catholic School system) A few years ago, the city's Heritage Advisory Committee chairman wrote me a letter. He told me that they had reviewed the 400 pages of information from the Caswell Homes project. He commended m

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e for this project and asked if I was willing to work with the public and catholic school systems to teach others how to do a similar project. I was too busy at the time to respond to this request. Maybe this is the year to respond.

Earlier this week, in a discussion post (not in my blog), I talked about "Riffing on a Chord". This is what I like to do in my blog posts. Grab a chord and improvise. Make up a melody and some harmonies to go along with that chord. As I have been writing this post about what comes next in my use and teaching of technology I have been riffing on the chord about the dance. I don't believe that I am an expert dancer with technology or web tools--not like Will Richardson, Alec Couros, or Dave Cormier. Yet I am willing to gather people around me who would like to learn and teach them what I know. So let's keep dancing. Shall we dance?

Dave Cormier - Big Wow at #opened09

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Did you know that there's a very important conference about open education taking place in Vancouver, B.C. right now? I found this website which I think has live streaming video of many of the sessions. http://openedconference.org/
From one moderator's opening remarks, I believe the Art Gallery of Vancouver (see picture) is the site of the conference. This art gallery is right on Robson Street in downtown Vancouver. Tonight 150 of the local participants can join in a barbecue at Stanley Park. (No fire though because of high fire alert in the park. Must be bringing the BBQ from elsewhere.) People are tweeting each other with suggestions for excellent restaurants since everyone has 1 1/2 hours for lunch. They'll have a great selection of places to eat on Robson Street. That street is full of hustle and energy at all hours of the day and night.

If you go on Twitter, you can do a search for the hashtag for this conference. The hashtag is #opened09 although some people are also using #opened without the 09.

Three Canadians that I've encountered in other online settings are attending the conference: Dave Cormier (PEI), George Siemens (Winnipeg), and Alec Couros (Regina).

Here is a U-Stream video from a keynote session by Catherine Ngui http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1971271

As well, they are attempting to live stream every session from this conference. Check out this link for these U-streams. http://www.ustream.tv/opened09

Check them out. These participants are having some very important conversations about education and open education resources. They are inviting us to participate in these conferences via chat during the live streaming. (Later note: The chat for non-live participants is via Twitter.)

I'm continuing to listen to Dave Cormier live during a session that he is giving in Vancouver right now. Lots of people on Twitter are talking about this session. Some important things from this session: In a learning community people care as much about the learning of the people

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beside them as they do about their own learning. @kolorkid on Twitter commented "Community is a place where you feel safe (to make mistakes) so you can learn. Dave Cormier said, "Give them the literacies they need to join the communities they want to be part of." At this point he talked about (maybe) working recently with strawberry farmers because he was trying to find a strawberry place to take his child to. (later saw more about this on his blog. He's helping organize farmers online in PEI or something like that. Reminds me of Mack Male who is also making a difference in a hyperlocal manner.) Dave is an imminently quotable speaker. He is amazing.

It was funny towards the end of the question and answer time at the end, Dave (who is very funny) must have cut off someone's question or possibly answer. He said, "You guys had six hours yesterday." I know that yesterday there was a six hour discussion between two of the gurus of Open Educational Resources. Those two gurus must have attended Dave's session.

While I was listening in to Dave's session, I was also checking out what it was saying o

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n Twitter about #opened09. I was following links (like the one to Ann Taylor's blog for her notes on the conference). Now I can understand what Mack Male and others means by "continuous partial attention".

Dave Cormier works in PEI. Here is a link to his blog: http://davecormier.com/edblog/. If he's not already a big name in the education technology world, I predict that this presentation today is going to zoom him up there. Wow! And he's from Canada. I'm so proud. (I stand and sing Oh Canada at this point. Join me if you are Canadian. Sing along with the YouTube video.)


Ann Taylor is blogging as she listens to one of the opened sessions. I'm going to check that out right now. Here's the address for her notes. https://www.e-education.psu.edu/node/468 Along with the notes for each session that she attends, she also includes the link to the video and a link to the slideshare notes for each session.

I need to post this writing so that those in my learning community can benefit from this conference. Even if you don't have time right now to join any of the live streaming sessions, they will available later on at the address above so that you can join in the learning that is taking place there.

I have used #opened09 to search Twitter for comments about this conference. It is interesting to see the comments of those attending the conference live with those who are checking in online. Fascinating! And they invited me to part of it. They invited you, too.